AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Avery came up beside me, putting his palms under the frame of the window and then nodded to me. “One, two...”
“I don’t think we should,” Ethan said. “This is breaking and entering, isn’t it?”
“Three,” I said.
Avery lifted at the same time, and after a slow start, it slammed up into the frame above. I think there was a loud crack, but I was going to pretend it was old wood, and not glass.
“Kayli,” Ethan said. “Are you sure it’s okay?”
“He’s not home,” I said. “And he’d be okay if we used his house for a bit.”
“Yeah,” Avery said. “He got kidnapped so he’d want us to figure out a way to save him.” He turned to me. “Right?”
“I guess.” I wasn’t totally sure if he’d been kidnapped even. I was hoping that wasn’t the case. Maybe he’d gotten away. I felt guilty leaving him behind.
“You guess?” Ethan asked. “Are you even sure?”
I wasn’t really sure of anything anymore. All I knew was, Ethan had access to what everyone wanted, and I wanted this to be over once and for all. Even as I worked my way into Blake’s house, I was concocting a plan to figure out how I could call everyone out in the open and end it. Maybe Ethan could let them into the observatory under false pretenses and trade for Axel and the others.
It was a dangerous call. I wasn’t sure Ethan would agree, and if Alice might somehow manipulate him into not trusting me, get access to the core, and then kill off Axel anyway. By now, she had to know I had Ethan. She could lie and say that I’d been lying. “Ethan,” I said, starting to climb into the window. “Once you get in here, you need to tell me about—”
I had my foot on the floor one minute, and the next, I was shoved over, and on my back, the wind knocked out of me. For a split second, I wondered if I had passed out and collapsed. But I realized my legs were tangled up and there was a weight pressing me into the wood floor.
A body sat on my legs, a face hovering, looking down at mine, so close that in the darkness, I couldn’t tell who it was.
Hot breath fell on my neck, snapping me into action. My heart pounded as I shoved back with my butt, and then lifted an elbow, making contact.
“Chto za huy,” a strong, deep voice said in my ear. Cough. Groan. “Kayli. Fuck.”
I sat up, finding Raven clutching at his lower abdomen. He wore a wrinkled black T-shirt, dark blue jeans, and combat boots. His closely cropped brown hair flattened against his head. The tattoos along his arms and the massive guy that he was made him look scary, especially with his face contorted.
I sucked in a breath, excited and relieved at the same time. I lunged at him, not caring that I’d injured him, and threw my arms around his neck. “Raven! What the hell are you doing here?”
He grunted and wrapped a big arm around my waist, holding me to him. He lowered himself, pressing into me, until I was against the floor. He held me like that for the longest time, simply hugging me against him. “Following my little thief,” he said, the thick Russian accent filling in every syllable. “Like I’m supposed to.”
“Who is that?” Avery said from somewhere I couldn’t see above Raven. “Are we fighting him or are we happy he’s here? I can’t tell.”
“He’s fine! He’s a good guy. Sort of.” I pushed at Raven until he started to sit up. I coughed, still catching my breath, and then rose, scooting out from under him. “Did you come by yourself?” I asked. “Where’s—”
“Hey!” said a familiar, cheery voice. A moment later, Corey entered through the doorway. My heart lifted at seeing his face. It felt like a lifetime ago since I’d seen him last. He was so much like his brother, except for his happy eyes and disposition. He wore a Mario Bros. T-shirt, jeans, flip-flops. His hair had that messy, just out of bed look. At first he spotted Raven, and then Ethan and Avery in the doorway, appeared confused, and then walked further into the room until he met my eyes. He smiled big. “There you are.”
“You’ve been following me?” I asked. “For how long?”
Corey shrugged. “Since you took Mr. Anderson’s car, and he called it in. Until you ditched it. But then you went into the building and we tried to follow but...”
The noise in the abandoned building. Maybe it wasn’t hobos after all. “You didn’t tell me?”
“You had people following,” Raven said. “We were keeping an eye on them.”
“Who?” I asked. “Did you see them? And why did you tackle me?”
“Missed you,” Raven said. “I got excited.”
I squinted at him. I’d only been gone a couple of days and I get tackled?
Corey helped me up, and the moment I was standing, he gathered me in a hug. “I missed you, too.”
“Could we get inside, please?” Ethan asked. “Maybe we should sit down and straighten out this whole mess.”
A few minutes later, we were all standing around the kitchen island. I needed food, so I was raiding the freezer, finding a box of frozen chicken sandwiches.
“What are you doing?” Corey asked. “You’re stealing his food?”
“He won’t care,” I said, pretty sure he probably wouldn’t even notice. The freezer was filled with Hot Pockets and sandwiches and other frozen delights. It was a mini-grocery store on its own.
Raven opened up one of the pantries, and started to inspect the contents.
“There’s Pop Chips in those cabinets somewhere,” I said. “Find me some?”
“Pop Chips?” Corey asked.
Raven opened, and left open, half of the cabinet doors before he came across the chips. He took out two and placed them on the counter. He looked at Corey, and then at Avery and Ethan. “You want chips, too? She’ll eat a whole bag. So will I.”
I was going to say I couldn’t eat a whole bag plus the sandwiches, but then I was hungry. I needed fuel to get my brain working.
“Don’t you think we should focus?” Ethan asked. He stood facing the still open window. His eyes went to the door, to the furniture, to us, to the ceiling. He shifted on his feet. “I don’t think we should be here any longer than we have to.”
“Sure,” I said. I studied him. I got that he was uncomfortable being here, but it felt like something else was off about him, too. I started unwrapping sandwiches, at least enough for Raven and myself, and put them in the microwave. “Basically, my idea is to offer up access to your observatory and your core to Eddie and Alice in exchange for Axel and the others. We give them what they want, and then we walk away. Once we’re clear, we call in the police. There won’t be any harm to anyone, especially if we act quickly.”
Ethan stepped forward, pointing at me. “Now wait a second. We can’t prove Alice has anything to do with this. What makes you think Alice even has your friend?”
Raven sidestepped in front of me in a protective stance, but I nudged him out of the way. “Because she told me she did,” I said. I left the microwave to lean against the kitchen island, staring him in the eyes and hoping he took me seriously. “Yesterday...I think. Maybe. I’m getting my days confused, but...”
“When is the last time you slept?” Corey asked, squinting at me. He came over, and touched gently at the skin below my eye. He rubbed gently. “You’re starting to look like a raccoon.”
I slapped at his hand to push it away. “Stop that. We need to get to Axel and Brandon and...”
“Wait a second,” he said, his eyes wide. “What do you mean? Where’s Brandon?”
Uh oh. Brandon didn’t want Corey knowing about him being kidnapped. “Uh...”
“Kidnapped,” Avery said. “Bummer, isn’t it? Right after he got free the first time, he gets kidnapped again.” He bobbed his head and made a sympathetic face.
Corey’s eyes widened. “What?”
“Totes,” Avery said. “Axel and...uh...Blake, too, right?” Avery looked at me. “There’s one more, though. Max?”
“Marc,” I said, grimly, looking at the counter. “Marc. And Doyle, I think. Maybe. I’m not sure
about Blake and Doyle.”
Avery snapped his fingers and then scratched at his head. “Right. Marc. I’m starting to lose track, too. They started out kidnapping girls, and now they’re kidnapping guys. So we trade them for this core, yeah? And then the police can sort out the rest.”
Corey’s mouth was open, his eyebrow arching above one eye. “Hang on a second. So she has Brandon and Blake?”
“Yeah,” Raven said. “What’s this kidnapping?”
I tried to catch them up quickly on what had happened. They probably should have been told what was going on from the start. Maybe Brandon didn’t want him chasing after, but I thought Corey was smarter than that.
Raven grunted at the end. “We were supposed to be running around after you so you don’t do anything stupid, and trying to identify anyone that might be following you.”
